North Georgia Tiger Micro-Rally

[Stretch]

Stretch, TigerRider, and Widgin at the rendezvous point near  Dahlonega.  From here, we were to travel north to Suches, Georgia, then explore some of the forestry roads and fire roads in the Cooper's Creek Wildlife Management Area, in the foot hills of the north Georgia mountains.


The rocks are the grave of a Cherokee who loved the forest and called the mountains of North Georgia home. Trahlyta, according to legend, lived on a mountain near her grave. She was told to walk along a path, drink from a spring and wish never to grow old by the "Mountain Medicine Man" or the Witch of Cedar Mountain, depending on whose story you believe. "You will become more beautiful with each sip" the voice told her. She followed the path and drank from the spring. Word of her beauty quickly spread.

The Cherokee warrior Wahsega, whom she rejected as a suitor, kidnapped and took her to his home. She begged and pleaded for her release, but Wahsega would not permit it. With each day her strength waned, her happiness gone, longing for her mountain forest. As she lay dying Trahlyta asked to be buried in the mountain paradise from which she had come. "Strangers, as they pass by, may drop a stone on my grave and they too shall be young and happy, as I once was," she said, "What they wish for shall be theirs!."

Cherokee, and later whites, would pick up a nearby stone and add it to her grave for good luck. Today her grave is in Stonepile Gap, the water she drank is called Porter Springs, and the hill is Cedar Mountain.

Twice men have attempted to move the grave during road construction. Both times at least one person died in an accident while moving the pile. The stone grave remains today in the same place it has always been. -From RoadSideGeorgia. com.


Dale's store at Wolf Pen Gap.  A rider hangout and general store just across the highway from Two Wheels Only campground.


Forest Road 33 entrance to the Cooper's Creek WMA, near Highway 180.




TigerRider.




Widgin and TigerRider.








We ran into a few more riders... JetDoc, Widgin, SuchesRider, and TigerRider.


End of the trail.  Duncan Ridge Road at Wolf Pen Gap Road (Ga. Hwy 180).

[tigerrider]

I had a great time and enjoyed some challenging (to me at least) trails.
The thing is...I am totally exhausted. I may try and resize the rest beofre bed..but here is one shot. (edit..here are the rest i have)

[Stretch]

I was hurtin when we finished the 20 - 30 miles of off road action.

But not a single fatality!  :mrgreen:

[fano]

I had a great time and enjoyed some challenging (to me at least) trails.
The thing is...I am totally exhausted. I may try and resize the rest beofre bed..but here is one shot.


Not enough legroom on the Steamers for those boots I had on..I was hurtin when we finished the 20 - 30 miles of off road action.

Bring it!!! It looks like a nice ride. Little more greenery than desert around here

[WIDGIN]

And a grrreat Tiger time it was.  It was nice to add a few fresh dings and gashes to the skidplate.  Thanks guys, I really enjoyed riding with some other Tigers.  Sorry I was the spoilsport that forgot his camera and needed to beg a sandwich.  :oops:

I too was quite tired after riding home in the heat and grooming the cat.  We need to do it again and maybe add a few more Tigers.  :D  Then we could call it a mini-rally instead of today's micro-rally.  8)

[Stretch]

I'm glad we all had a large time.  It'd be cool to get a few more Tigger riders for the next one.  Maybe Nightrider and GatorTiger will be game for the next one.

The weather wasn't too bad, either.  I'll bet it was ten degrees cooler up there.  I just about wilted when we dropped back down to Dahlonega in the heat of the day.  Bleh.

Stay safe, and see you on the intyweb!

[sagalout]

Looks great - nice pics :)

I'd love to try trail riding once I've got some crash guards sorted.  I take it you need proper knobbly tyres?  I went to British Superbikes yesterday and nearly dropped mine riding on soft grass in the car park lol

[WIDGIN]

I take it you need proper knobbly tyres?

Na, we did it on Tourances, Distanzias, and Presa Detours.  And we didn't even air down (would have given more control but might have been hazardous to rims with the number of large rocks laying in ambush.)  :lol:

[tigerrider]

The trails were passable by Jeep standards but that doesn't mean they didn't present some decent challenges. Even coming up rt. 60 was nerve racking as we dealt with hordes of bicycle racers. HORDES. We rode a good bit of that twisty mountain rode facing oncoming traffic and trying not to take out bikes with our panniers.

We took a turn into Dales to relax and have a quick snack/breakfast. Rode up Wolf Pen to just past Lake Winfield Scott and turned left on Coopers Creek road and that let us to F.S. #33. That was fine going and we came to the first left ( Flatlands) and took that for a ways. We stopped at the cemetery for a minute. I wanted to check out the shape of the gravel on the downhill. All 3 of us had different tires on with WIDGIN sporting the new Maxxis Presas. The big gravel (when it's that big, do you still call it gravel?) was sorta stirred up and loose but everyone was up for continuing. With all of us running street pressure on the tires...I was really having the front end skim all over the place...but no one crashed and we made it to the creek crossing. That was a nice splash with WIDGIN tossing a few pounds of gravel at me as he found traction on the other side of it. I would get used to seeing this about any time I got within 10 or 15 yards of him. :) We had a really nice up hill section that led us to a good turn around spot along side a gorgeous meadow. We scoped that out and hydrated ourselves.

So far, the day had been great and the temps were very comfortable with plenty of shade and even a nice breeze. Even the full on MX boots weren't too much till much later in the day. We went back to #33 by backtracking thru Flatlands and planned on riding #33 further in. During a navigation brainstorming session, I got to feel a little unprepared as Stretch whips out 2 different maps, WIDGIN takes out the big map you buy at Dales...and they both have GPS systems I didn't even notice. We decide to take #33 down to its intersection with a road that takes us up to Duncan Ridge. Before we get to that point though, we run into a couple of other ADV folks on DRZ 400s. We have a nice meet up and then continue on our way. #33 has really been pretty decent with Flatlands presenting the biggest challenges.  
As we turn on to the connector road, we get a treat of more dirt on the trail than riding on top of a sea of golf balls. On the up hills they put in some steps to control the erosion and these make for some decent launch pads for our off road tanks. Some nice scenery and soft trail...nicest part so far. We stopped for some snacks when we hit Duncan Ridge. This is the part WIDGIN is the most familiar with out of the 3 of us and mentions it's going to be a bit more technical with some rocks ahead. It's getting warmer and as we munch on a sandwich/Ritz cracker/power bar lunch, we make sure to stay in the shade.

The ride on Duncan Ridge seems pretty decent so far...some gravels sections cause some pucker because I notice that the trees on my right start about 40-60 down from the edge of the service road! I try and go to the left side of the road and then i see what WIDGIN was talking about. ROCKS. AT this point though..I am too tired to pull my ass off the saddle and share in the beating my bike is taking. As I have to nail the gas to get the front over some obstacles, I have to stay on it so the rear keeps its composure. Lots of dodging, panicked glances over the side and getting the crap beat outta me, I see a road wayyyy down amongst the trees. We're almost done!

We pop out deeper onto Wolf Pen Gap and park for a bit. Wow, that was fun...hard at times..but certainly a really good time. Everybody stayed together, no one crashed. We even got a bit wet thanks to the creek and got to spend time meeting each other. I am glad I got see some new areas and revisit some old ones. Thanks a lot to Stretch for turning a mispost of mine into a great idea for a Tiger get together. For his first time up rt60 on his Tiger, Stretch was passing the cycle mobs like he had been there plenty of times before. I remembered WIDGIN's post some time ago when he binned his Tiger hauling ass down a fireroad...so I had a feeling he was going to be the running of the trip. He did not disappoint. You really would not have though he was riding a tall 550+ lb bike around. Both great guys and I was glad to ride around with them. We'll be looking for more GA Tiger Riders come this Fall....maybe even camp out?

[Stretch]

Camp up there?  Hell yeah!

[WIDGIN]

Camp up there?  Hell yeah!

You're not allowed back in the area until you fabricate a set of your awesome "FrankenJesses" for my Tiger.  :lol:

[WIDGIN]

The trails were passable by Jeep standards but that doesn't mean they didn't present some decent challenges. Even coming up rt. 60 was nerve racking as we dealt with hordes of bicycle racers. HORDES. Bicycle racers. Hell, that was a full blown bicycle race with several support trucks and marshalls on motorcycles. The only thing that saved us was they probably thought we were refreshment vehicles bringing water cups though the pack. Hmmm, good thing you weren't leaking pannier fluid until later or you might have been swarmed by dehydrated cyclists!

The big gravel (when it's that big, do you still call it gravel?) was sorta stirred up and loose but everyone was up for continuing. Egg-sized marbles. Man, that stuff was gruesome.


I remembered WIDGIN's post some time ago when he binned his Tiger hauling ass down a fireroad...so I had a feeling he was going to be the running of the trip.  Hey now.  I'm trying to forget that crash.  AFAIK, the only public photo's of that infamous day died in Triumphtiger.com's archives.  

[tigerrider]

I remembered WIDGIN's post some time ago when he binned his Tiger hauling ass down a fireroad...so I had a feeling he was going to be the runner of the trip.  Hey now.  I'm trying to forget that crash.  AFAIK, the only public photo's of that infamous day died in Triumphtiger.com's archives.  

(I correct a mispelling of mine)

Sorry to bring it up. I just knew you were going to be the faster of us...and I wasn't wrong. I lose the front end 2 years ago and I am still nervous about it...you hauled ass! I was trying to learn something watching your lines.

[Stretch]

You're not allowed back in the area until you fabricate a set of your awesome "FrankenJesses" for my Tiger.  :lol:

D'oh!  :mrgreen:

[WIDGIN]

tigerrider,

Thanks for the complement.  Uh, if that's what it was, maybe you're just calling me a quick dumbass.  

I don't think picking lines have a huge effect on speed while street riding.  They do affect your safety in avoiding oncoming traffic or obstacles in corners but I don't believe that they make much actual speed difference.  However, you've given me an idea to write a post about cornering.  Look for it on the board in a few days and I hope I don't bore everyone.